James Wilkins

James Wilkins (1738-) was an American loyalist politician and soldier during the American Revolutionary War. A former South Carolina General Assembly member, Wilkins became a captain in the loyalist militia during the war, serving in the Green Dragoons.

Biography
James Wilkins was born in South Carolina in 1738, and he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War. Wilkins became a fanatical supporter of Great Britain at the time of the American Revolutionary War, believing that speaking of an "American nation" was treason, and that those who stood against Britain deserved to die a traitor's death. In 1776, he was one of 12 South Carolina General Assembly members to vote against a levy for the Continental Army, but this was defeated by 28 votes in favor of it. Wilkins responded by joining the loyalist militia as a Captain, and he served alongside the equally fanatic officer William Tavington. Wilkins would later hesitate to burn the Pembroke church with all of the town's inhabitants inside of it, and he was ultimately forced to give the order. Wilkins was possibly killed at the Battle of Cowpens shortly after.